James Van Rhee Editor & Author

James Van Rhee, MS, PA-C, DFAAPA, is the Program Director for the Yale University School of Medicine Physician Assistant Online Program. He is a graduate of Grand Valley State University, 1982, with a BS in Medical Technology and a BS in Medicine, 1989, from the University of Iowa, where he completed his training as a physician assistant. In 1997 he received a MS in Physician Assistant Studies from Rosalind Franklin University. Van Rhee has been involved in physician assistant education for over 20 years. Prior to his position at Yale, he served as academic coordinator at Grand Valley State University, Department Chair and Program Director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at Western Michigan University, Department Chair and Program Director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Program Director and Associate Professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program. Van Rhee has been the project director and an item-writer for the Physician Assistant Education Association's (PAEA) Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge Rating Assessment Tool (PACKRAT). He served on the Accreditation Review Commission for Physician Assistant Education (ARC-PA) as a commissioner and chair. He has been the course director for the online Kaplan Medical PANCE/PANRE board review course. He is the author of the Physician Assistant Certification and Recertification Board Review, and consulting editor for Physician Assistant Clinics. He has authored several articles and been a presenter at the local, state, and national levels on various clinical medicine and education topics.

Christine Bruce, DMSc, MHSA, PA-C, DFAAPA, is an Associate Professor and the Program Director of the Penn State University Physician Assistant Program. She has practiced for 36 years in hospitalist medicine, cardiology, and general internal medicine. Prior to her appointment at Penn State, Bruce was the founding Program Director and Full Professor at DeSales University's Physician Assistant Program. She served as visiting scholar and faculty member for the Harvard Macy Health Education Professors Program. She graduated from the St. Francis University Physician Assistant Program in 1983, completed her Master of Health Services Administration from St. Joseph's University, and is a Doctor of Medical Science candidate at Lynchburg University. In 2017, Bruce was honored by the NCCPA as one of 50 PAs who has made a significant contribution to the profession. Bruce is the first director of the Physician Assistant Program at Penn State, which has a 99% rate of completion, 100% first-time pass rate on the PANCE, and 100% employment rate within four months of graduation.

Stephanie Neary, MPA, MMS, PA-C, is an Assistant Professor Adjunct at the Yale School of Medicine Physician Assistant Online Program. She is the director of didactic education for the program and course director for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine I, II, and III while also serving on the admissions committee and as an academic advisor. Neary is a physician assistant who graduated with an MMS from Midwestern University-Glendale in 2015. She began practicing clinically in refugee and urban underserved family medicine clinics in Phoenix, Arizona, and now works in inpatient endocrinology on the Diabetes Management Service at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). In 2012, she became adjunct faculty at Grand Canyon University in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology and the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions. She has served as a member of the Physician Assistant Education Association's (PAEA) Future Educator Development Steering Committee from 2014-2018 and has presented multiple times at the American Academy of Physician Assistants' (AAPA) national conferences and the PAEA Forums. Neary also earned Master of Public Administration in Health Care Management from Grand Canyon University in 2013 and a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from the George Washington University in 2010. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing Science from MUSC and is a 2020-2021 PAEA Research Fellow.